Speaker: Professor Christopher Nicholls (University of Western Ontario)

In 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, the Yale Law School and Harvard Business School launched an innovative joint program: the “Law-Business Course”. The program’s principal architect was Yale law professor William O. Douglas, best remembered today as the longest serving member of the US Supreme Court and one of the most provocative. For a short time, this remarkable academic initiative brought together professional schools at America’s two foremost universities, foreshadowing the interdisciplinary approach to law and business education that animate modern JD/MBA programs. The creation and short life of this unique academic collaboration provide a fascinating glimpse into the intellectual dynamism of early twentieth century business law education and the politics and practical exigencies facing academic pioneers of that important era. The story of this forward-thinking interdisciplinary perspective also offers important insights into current approaches to business law and, in particular, the pivotal role of modern finance theory in the development of the study, practice, and theory of corporate law today.

3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.

For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website:

http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

Speaker: Dr Akshaya Kamalnath (Australian National University)

Governance of companies has always involved some uncertainty and technology related challenges similarly add to the risks and challenges involved. Yet, corporate governance – both the legal and non-legal aspects – finds ways to address risks and so it will be with tech-related issues. This paper argues that effective corporate governance should now include a focus on ‘digital governance’ which I define as governance of technology and data related challenges. It will include questions of the role of AI and other technologies in making boards more effective, the governance of risks associated with the use of technology at all levels of the firm including considerations of fairness and bias when AI is used in some contexts, and data privacy and cybersecurity risks. While the paper does not call for a change in the core legal duties of directors, it proposes that soft law nudge companies to address tech-related risks. An obvious starting point is to encourage companies to appoint directors with tech expertise and constitute a tech committee where relevant. However, drawing from literature on independent directors and board diversity, the chapter notes that alterations to board composition is not a silver bullet. It must be part of a mindset where the risks posed by technology are treated seriously enough to necessitate strategies and practices beyond mere compliance with existing laws.

3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.

http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

This entry provides an audio source for iTunes.

Speaker: Martin Voitko (World Bank)

Abstract: The Structured Finance seminar is intended to be a primer on understanding key concepts of these complex financial instruments and their benefits/limitations. The seminar will cover securitisation trades (both traditional (or cash) securitisations and synthetics) as well as covered bonds. The presentation will further explain what different types of those trades are used for as well as provide examples of typical structures. In the discussion part, the seminar can dive deeper into topics of interest for the audience such as ABS securities, CLN notes and covered bonds.

3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.

For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website at:

http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

(audio feed collection)

Speaker: Professor Chris Thomale (University of Vienna, University Roma Tre)

Abstract: According to a widely received concept coined by Hansmann/Kraakman, “asset partitioning” denotes a bundle of doctrines surrounding the relationship of business owners as well as their business and private creditors, so-called entity shielding and owner shielding. Often, this configuration is associated with a legal entity, e.g., providing the “corporate veil” which allegedly protects owners’ assets from business creditors. Contrary to this intuition, it will be shown that legal personality, while offering a metaphorical framework for asset partitioning, is no institutionally indispensable prerequisite for it. To support this claim, we will look at historical and contemporary comparative evidence from continental-European as well as Middle- and South-American legal orders. This allows us to compare asset partitioning with and without legal personality and evaluate the policy implications of each.

3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.

For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website at http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/